


Burning

by DesertLily



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: 1919 - Freeform, By order of the Peaky Blinders, Family Fluff, Finn is everyone’s favourite sibling, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Siblings, Shelby Brothers, Sickfic, sick!Finn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-29 18:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21414772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertLily/pseuds/DesertLily
Summary: Finn gets sick and decides not to tell anyone. His siblings get extremely concerned as a result.
Relationships: Ada Shelby & Finn Shelby, Arthur Shelby & John Shelby, Finn Shelby & Arthur Shelby, Finn Shelby & John Shelby, Finn Shelby & Tommy Shelby
Comments: 9
Kudos: 128





	Burning

**Author's Note:**

> I’m honestly not sure if I love or hate this fic tbh

1919

Sometimes, Finn Shelby liked to pretend he was clever. He liked to pretend he knew things he didn’t. He liked to pretend he knew all about his brothers’ business and the Blinders. All he really knew was that he would ‘find out when he was older’ or ‘it was too dangerous for children’. Why did adults have to be so boring? Finn just knew that he was a Shelby and that he was supposed to wear that name with pride. It was a name that always seemed to garner respect the second someone heard it. Though, it would be a few years before he entirely understood why. Still, he idolised his brothers in the way boys his age so often did. It was as if, in his eyes, they couldn’t possibly do anything wrong or at least, they couldn’t do anything that wasn’t justifiable. Which was why he would do almost anything to be seen as an adult by them. No matter how idiotic it might be. 

It started with a cough. At first, Finn just tried to brush it off as nothing. Birmingham was an industrial city. Coughing because of smoke was normal, right? Though, the coughing quickly grew worse. Then Finn had to get creative in trying to hide it. If he admitted he was sick then his brothers would just think he was weak; that he couldn’t look after himself. So he let himself get caught with a pack of cigarettes. The result was getting a multitude of lectures on why he shouldn’t smoke from his family (most of them being extremely hypocritical) but at least they didn’t expect he was sick. 

The next symptom was harder to hide. He started throwing up. There wasn’t an easy way to explain it away this time. So Finn just did his best to hide it; cleaning up after himself or making excuses to slip away whenever he felt his stomach begin to church. It was going great! Until Arthur caught him. 

“Fucking hell, Finn. What happened?” Finn glanced up from where he was hunched over the toilet bowl, very much looking like a deer caught in headlines. “Jesus...You look like shit.” 

He had to be fast to come up with a response. “...Ada really needs to work on her cooking.” Finn tried to use his sister’s questionable culinary skills as a good cover up. 

Thankfully, Arthur just laughed it off. “I know how you feel.” He crouched down next to his youngest brother. “C’mon early night for you.” Finn didn’t argue and just let himself be led to his room. Though, he made sure to be careful about being caught after that. 

The worst symptom was his fever. That one he didn’t even get the chance to hide. It came on fast and kept a tight hold on him. It first became obvious when he heard someone - he thought it might be Tommy - calling out as they walked in to his room. “Finn, it’s the middle of the afternoon. You can’t spend all day in b- What the fuck?” Yeah, there was no way in hell Finn was going to be able to hide it now. Then he heard what sounded like rapid footsteps followed by a hand being pressed to his forehead. “Shit. Finn? Can you open your eyes for me?” All he could do was let out a quiet groan in response. He just felt completely drained of energy and the prospect of even the simplest movement felt impossible. Finn couldn’t remember much of what happened after that. Instead, he just blacked out. 

* * *

Finn kept drifting in and out of consciousness after that. The next time he was truly aware of his surroundings, the first thing he noticed was the sensation of something cold being pressed to his forehead, followed by murmured conversation. “...Are you sure about this?”

“Arthur, I have a lot of kids. This isn’t my first time dealing with a sick child. Not to mention how many times you’ve dealt with all of us sick before.” John and Arthur. A small smile formed on his face at that. The prospect of his two brothers attempting to play doctor was more than a little amusing. Evidently, his smile didn’t go unnoticed. “You awake, Finny?” He managed to crinkle his nose at the nickname. John chuckled. “I’ll take that ad a yes.” 

Slowly, Finn managed to push his eyes open. “Wha’ happened?” As he opened his eyes, he could make out Arthur sitting besides his bed as John pressed a cold compress to his forehead. 

“Tommy found you passed out, lad. You weren’t responding to nothin’.” The genuine concern in Arthur’s voice threw him off slightly. He wasn’t used to hearing that much concern. Not from his oldest brother. “This is why you tell us when you’re sick, alright? So you don’t get like this!” Finn wasn’t conscious enough to take the scolding to heart. His eyes had fallen closed and already he was falling back asleep. “...Finn?” He didn’t respond. 

* * *

When he woke up again, it was to someone attempting to feed him. “Come on. You need to try and eat...John said talking to you might help.” He recognised that voice. 

“...Ada?” Finn croaked out, desperately trying to open his eyes. As he did, he met his sister’s concerned gaze. 

Ada seemed to relax considerably at seeing him awake. “Oh, thank god.” She breathed out, reaching to take his hand in to hers gently. “How are you feeling?” Her voice held a gentleness to it that John and Arthur’s never could. There was no gruffness in her tone. 

He slowly managed to shrug, swallowing a spoonful of soup as he brought it to her lips. “Jus’ tired. Feel too hot.” He managed to complain. 

A deep frown set on to her face at that. “Just eat and drink a little for me, okay? Then you can go back to sleep for a while.” 

“Okay.” Finn agreed before doing just that. 

* * *

Finally, Finn’s fever broke. He woke up in a cold sweat and feeling far less terrible than he had before. It was a lot easier to open his eyes. The sight that greeted him was as amusing as it was sweet. His middle brother was holding his hand whilst dozing off in the chair next to him. “...Tommy?” Finn squeezed his hand gently. 

Tommy instantly jolted awake at that. “Finn! Oh, thank fuck!” Without Aunt Polly immediately present, it seemed he held little care to watch his language in front of the younger boy. “You’re awake!”

“I feel like shit.” His foul language seemed to elect a bark of laughter from the older man. “I’m a little cold too.” Finn shrugged, slowly pushing himself to sit up. A groan escaped him as he did. 

His brother quickly moved to help him. “Just take it easy.” Tommy murmured. “You’re not allowed to worry us like this again.” 

“Oh whose orders?” Finn couldn’t help but retort. 

Thomas smirked. “By orders of the Peaky Blinders.”

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not at all sorry about the last line. Love it? Hate it? Any and all comments are appreciated! Or hmu @ desert-lily on Tumblr!


End file.
